Domestic violence refuges plead for help to stop 'silent epidemic' of abuse against foreigners

Domestic violence refuges in south-east Queensland are being overwhelmed by what one manager is calling "a silent epidemic" of abuse against foreign nationals.

The women attempting to flee their violent Australian partners often have little or no support network, a language barrier, and visa restrictions that prevent them from working.

The refuges are hamstrung by government rules that mean foreign nationals may not be eligible for financial assistance.

When domestic violence occurs victims can find themselves with few options, as one mother of three from New Zealand found out.

"My ex-husband is a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder," she said.

"Because of that he gets really bad paranoia and delusion. Last April all the fuss started because he believed I had poisoned my children which I hadn't done, and hence why I have full custody and he doesn't.

"It was more emotional abuse – telling me he didn't like certain people I was hanging out with, telling me things like I wasn't good enough for him," she said.

"Then there was financial abuse. Unfortunately there was sexual abuse."

She fled to a refuge and is now in community housing, but it is a short-term placement. She must move out next month.

"I really don't have any options once I leave the refuge in regards to housing," the woman said.

"I can't get community housing. I can't get the NRAS scheme, which is the National Rent Affordability Scheme.

"Because I don't get any Centrelink I cannot afford to go private. I am trying to get myself a job at the moment but I have the issue that my ex-husband doesn't want my kids in care.

There's a lot of factors that affect my ability to get on my own two feet at the moment. It's a pretty scary thing to think about what happens come January and I have to move out of that house.

New Zealand woman

"So there's a lot of factors that affect my ability to get on my own two feet at the moment. It's a pretty scary thing to think about what happens come January and I have to move out of that house."

The New Zealander now bitterly regrets not applying for permanent residency while she was married, but says she did not realise how important it would become.

"I arrived here when I was 16. I went to school here. I've worked in Brisbane. I've paid taxes. I've worked for a number of years," she said.

"My children are all born here. My ex-husband is an Australian and if he was to have my children he'd be entitled to everything under the sun, you know: parenting payments, rent assistance, all that stuff.

"But for me I can't get any financial help at all just to even help me get on my feet."

'He left me like an animal'

The situation is even more desperate for one woman from Peru. She met an Australian man while on holiday at Macchu Pichu in 2009 and quickly fell in love.

"It was a happy time. One day before he leave Peru he proposed to me for marriage," she said.

"I have a good life there. It's not a big life but I have everything – house, car, my job, family – but because I fall in love I come to Australia."

She packed up her son and gave up her successful career as a sales manager for a multinational food company and prepared for her wedding and a life in Australia.

But shortly after their marriage, life changed.

All the time he told me 'you can't call the police because the police are Australian like me. They are only here for me, never for you'.

Woman from Peru

"All the year 2012 was horrible for me. We had verbal abuse. He started to try to punch me, punch broken windows, the window to the car. [There were] broken doors," she said.

"[He was] jealous to my son and to me and he was so controlling. All the time he told me 'You can't call the police because the police are Australian like me. They are only here for me, never for you'."

He walked out on her in June, leaving her unable to pay the rent and she was evicted.

"He [brought] me here and [left] me like an animal," she said.

Not only is she ineligible for government benefits, but her guardian visa means she is not allowed to legally work.

"I [don't] have any help from Centrelink because I don't have permanent visa," she said.

She says she would be homeless if not for a woman she met at her son's soccer game. The Brazilian national has offered a free room in her own home for her and her son.

'Silent epidemic' of violence against foreign women

Sadly, both women's stories are disturbingly common to Jacque Taka, the coordinator at the Chisholm refuge in Brisbane's northern suburbs.

People say to me are you full? Have you got all your rooms filled? We unfortunately are never empty... This is a silent epidemic.

Jacque Taka

"We unfortunately are never empty.

"I'll give you some statistics. In 2011-12 just in my refuge we supported 35 women and 37 children. This last financial year we supported 45 women and 64 children - in one refuge. And there are 34 refuges in south-east Queensland."

She says about 15 to 20 per cent of the women would be foreign nationals.

"It's very difficult to communicate how serious this problem is and that it's on the increase. This is a silent epidemic," she said.

Lack of government assistance for women and refuges

The scale of the problem may be masked by the lack of government assistance.

Ms Taka says it means the risk of women remaining in a violent home is much higher.

"If she has no options to be able to go and get a new property or somewhere to live or provide for her children she has no choice but to go back to him," Ms Taka said.

Added to these problems are funding difficulties within the refuges themselves.

"We do get funding for the building and the operational costs and our wages and things like that," Ms Taka said.

"But we don't get funding to buy the beds and the linen and the toiletries and food and the things that we provide here."

Donations help meet some of the essential expenses for the women.

"They're not eligible for Medicare so when they go to the doctor and get a prescription they're paying full price, so that money goes towards that," Ms Taka said.

"Clothing, the children will arrive with no shoes for school, no bag, no books. That money goes towards helping them start."

Refuge owners are calling for two major changes: for foreign nationals who are victims of domestic violence to be given government assistance, and for refuges to be given funding to help them rebuild their shattered lives.

A spokeswoman for Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews says there are no changes planned at this stage.